The company we keep
by pereztaylor80
Summary: Elena Gilbert found earning fast money came with the price of taking your clothes off for a living. When Damon Salvatore comes in and buys the company she works for, will she sink or swim with the company she now keeps.


***** New story, please read enjoy and review*****

Everyone wants to be beautiful; everyone wants the perfect body with the perfect face to match but not me. No I believe being beautiful is more of a curse, a burden you have to live with and me personally I would rather just be ordinary. When you're beautiful, people begin to want to own you, to add you on to their list of beautiful things. You become more of an object than a person.

Most times I felt like more of an object to people than a person. I wasn't known for anything besides my face or body, not that I really had anyone to blame but myself. Still I like to think that for once in my life, someone would just look at me and see me. I like to think if they did maybe they would see something other than just a pretty face, that maybe they would love me for me.

As I laid on the couch with people surrounding me fixing me hair and adding lip gloss and blush on every now and then, I wondered when it had gotten this way. I couldn't pinpoint that time and place when my life had gotten so off track. When I decided to pose naked for my profession instead of going to college like I planned. I never wanted to end up in those magazine's I would catch my younger brother looking at. I wanted to make something of my life, instead of being just another pretty picture.

Instead I laid here looking beautiful, pictures being snapped repeatedly one after another and I knew after they were done they would pick the best picture and thousands of man everywhere would be happy. But would I be happy?

No, and truth be told I couldn't remember the last time I had felt happy since I left home. Sure I had money, and my pictures were pretty famous but it didn't make me sleep any easier at night. I was treated like a piece of meat, and most men assumed I just took off my clothes for free for anyone.

"Elena," I heard someone cry snapping me out of my thoughts and I lifted my head up looking around. "You're looking a little dead sweetheart why don't you try to put some emotion into that pretty face of yours." The photographer said to me so I adjusted my face and tried to keep my thoughts from getting in the way. When it ended I hurriedly put on my robe and rushed back to the dressing rooms. When I got there I saw the rest of the girls getting ready for their shoots.

"How'd you do?" A girl named Apple asked me when I walked past.

"Okay, wasn't my best day." I said and shrugged my shoulder's quickly stripping off my robe and put my clothes on.

"Well you better get it together, because I hear there is a new owner coming in and from what everyone is saying is he is going to fire a lot of people if he doesn't like what he sees." I raised my eyebrows at her and she nodded emphasizing what she said.

"What's his name?" I asked and began to put on my boots in a hurry to get out of here.

"Damon Salvatore, I'm hearing he is amazingly good looking too probably going to participate in some pictures with us."

"Apple where do you get your information from?" I asked laughing and she smiled.

"I have a very good source you can trust that." I shook my head grabbed my purse and headed for the door. I waved bye to people on the way out and was pulling my phone out looking at my missed calls when I collided into someone busting my head and falling on the ground. I was dazed for a moment and I heard a man cursing all sorts of things.

"Can't watch where you're going?" He cried and looked down at me with an angry expression, but I was too busy being dazed by how incredibly good looking he was. "Hello!" He yelled in my face snapping me out of the daze I was in. I pushed myself up off the ground and picked up my phone as I did so.

"Can't you say sorry?" I snapped back rubbing the already forming bump on my head.

"What you ran into me!" He cried and threw up his hands, I rolled my eyes no longer hypnotized by his looks.

"Whatever can you move please I'm trying to leave." I said and tried to push past him with little success.

"Not until you apologize for running into me and nearly giving me a concussion," He folded his arms and I scoffed at him.

"Are you serious?" I demanded and a smirk spread over his lips.

"All I want is an apology." He said simply and the smile got bigger, I clicked my tongue.

"I'm not apologizing to you," He stopped my attempt to leave again.

"Well I could think of another way to apologize," He said and I knew what he was implying, now getting fully mad I shoved him hard out of my way making it through to the door.

"Pig!" I called out behind me and entered the cold outside. When I left work I always felt relatively normal and I think it was because I went back to my quiet little apartment and could just relax. Well that was until my roommate and best friend Caroline Forbes returned home from work and would complain about her day.

As far as she knew I was just a lingerie model, and those were the only pictures I ever showed her. I did do some ads for lingerie but my main job was for porn magazines and it wasn't something I was entirely proud of.

I had barely turned on the TV before Caroline busted through the door and slammed it shut behind her. I heard it open again and heard her boyfriend Tyler's voice and automatically knew they were having one of their many fights. I rolled my eyes and snickered getting ready for the fight, I always got a kick out of listening to them argue about the stupidest things.

"Why'd you look down her shirt Tyler!" Caroline screamed from her room.

"Babe she bent over it was kind of hard not to look, you even stared too!" He shot back and I laughed a little again. I listened to them argue for a while longer and must have dozed off because I was woken up to my phone ringing.

"Hello," I muttered as I answered the phone.

"Lena, you have to come down to the set like now Mark sold the company like I told you and everyone needs to meet here!" I snapped my eyes all the way open and sat up.

"Wait Apple slow down it's 6 o'clock in the morning," I rubbed my eyes but still stood up and began to grab my purse and car keys.

"Just get here or you could lose your job girl!" She snapped over the phone and I heard the click of her hanging up. Quickly I made myself presentable and was out the door and to the set within twenty minutes. When I walked inside it appeared to be complete chaos, people were running around everywhere like they were chickens with their heads cut off. I spotted a guy who worked on my set with me a lot and ran over to him.

"Josh what the hell is happening?" I said stopping him and he ran his hands through his hair.

"Mark lost the company to this young guy, now people are getting fired left and right including me." I frowned as he said this and he walked away leaving me standing there. I walked back to all the dressing rooms and seen most of the girls were sitting there, and not very many of them seemed upset back here.

"Hey what's everyone doing back here?" I asked and went and sat next to Apple who was fixing her hair and make-up in the mirror.

"Waiting," she answered and looked up at me.

"Okay what are you waiting for?" I asked and she turned back to the mirror.

"Well apparently this Damon Salvatore is interviewing all of us ladies and he is only looking to keep fifteen of us." My mouth practically dropped open when she said this.

"But there is over 80 girls employed through us," Apple nodded and I felt dread filling up in my stomach because I needed this job. It wasn't my choice career but it was the only job I could find that would give me enough money to help pay for my father's hospital and home health care since he had fallen ill. This was more to me than a lot of girl's that worked here, I worked here to help support my family. I kept seeing girl's get called out of the dressing and not one of them came back. Suddenly I heard my name get called and I rose on shaky legs and followed a very pretty girl and she led me to a room I knew very well.

"Who is this?" I heard a male voice ask from the other side of the room and when he came into view I felt my heart sink. It was the man who I had bumped into earlier and I just had a feeling this wasn't going to turn out good for me.

"Elena Gilbert Mr. Salvatore," The blonde woman said. The man who I knew was Damon Salvatore glanced up and a smirk came over his lips.

"Well, well, well, thank you Olivia very much." He said and went to sit down at the desk in the middle of the room. The woman walked out of the room just leaving me and him alone. I walked forward and sat down in the chair and waited for him to say something. "Well?" He said and held his hands out.

"Well," I said back and gave him a small smile.

"I'm still waiting for an apology, you called me a pig earlier."

"Because you were acting like one!" I snapped at him and immediately bit my lip after it came out of my mouth. His smile faltered for a minute but then returned and he leaned forward, folding his hands in front of him.

"Hmmm, well that's besides the point but maybe you'll have a different view of things when I send your ass home without a job."

"Please I need this job," I said not my heart pounding at his words and panic shooting through my body.

"Well your lucky I'm a nice guy and will still give you a chance, I have some of your pictures here and I'm curious to know why in none of your shoots do you have another man or woman with you." He started going through the stack of pictures he had in front of him and I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat.

"Um I was never very comfortable with that, but I know my pictures do have very high ratings." I could hear my voice shaking and his fierce blue eyes looked me over once more before shifting through some more pictures. What I told him was the truth, the magazines where I had full spreads had sold the most. The two where I had been featured on the front were the highest magazines to ever be sold. Mark my old boss had understood that I didn't mind posing with my clothes off, I mean I wasn't ashamed or embarrassed by my body. I saw it as we came into this world naked and everyone had the same parts, so if people saw them I could care less.

But to have someone touch me, or to have sex on camera was a whole different thing for me. I would not do it, that was personal and something I believed should only be done behind closed doors. I was the only girl in the company who had been allowed to not participate in these shoots, mainly because my pictures did so well without them.

"I can see what your saying is true, but this is a porn magazine where people want to see fucking. Not just a pretty girl sitting or lying down naked. I mean you don't even touch yourself in your pictures." I blushed as he said that and could no longer look at him and had to look at the floor.

"I told you I'm not comfortable doing that." My voice was calm and firm although I felt like I was breaking apart inside.

"Well if you want to keep this job you're going to have to get comfortable. We're going to start filming porn movies here as well and the girls I keep on have to be willing to participate in them." I shot my head back up to look at him.

"Why can't you just keep things like they were? Some girls here need their jobs, besides the ones who get fired will just go to a different company." I didn't know if my statement was a threat to him but I think that was how he took it because his eyes narrowed and he set the picture he was looking at down.

"Not the girls I want to keep." I frowned at this and shook my head.

"Listen are you going to keep me on or not, because if you are I would like to know so I can get on with my day." He gave me a smirk but didn't answer me and looked back down going through my pictures. I took the time to examine him and knew right off the bat that he was the best looking guy I had ever seen. His raven black hair didn't look like he had ran a brush through it that morning but it suited him perfectly. His eyes were unlike any I had ever seen before, a beautiful bluish gray with maybe a hint of green specks. I would have to get closer to see and I did not want to get closer to this man. First off he seemed as arrogant and cocky as they came, and second I don't think any sane woman would be able to stand by him without falling under some sort of spell.

"I want to keep you, your pictures are good and would be even better now that I'm in charge. But I would need you to sign a new contract, and I would need you to be okay with doing scenes with other men or women." He said finally speaking up and looking at me again.

"No I won't do that." I said defiantly and he gave a small laugh.

"You pose naked Elena don't act like your some queen of virtue." I felt my spine stiffen at his words and shot him a disgusted look.

"If you won't keep me on doing what I do, that's fine there are other companies who would love to have me. I don't want to work for a complete ass anyways." I stood up without saying another word and stormed out of the room not bothering to look back until I was in my car. Before pulling out I looked at the brick building biting my lips hoping I hadn't made a huge mistake. I mean he had said he wanted to keep me on and he was only keeping 15 of us and I was one of them. But I knew I couldn't do that, I had sworn no matter how rough things got I would never have sex on film.


End file.
